Description
H&H Classic Auction @ National Motorcycle Museum | Solihull, West Midlands
30th Oct, 2024 11:00
1968 Seeley G50 Mk2
Genuine 1960s Seeley Mk2
Estimate
£18, 000 - £22, 000
Registration No: Unregistered
Frame No: MK2/ 7
MOT: Exempt
Thought to be the 1987 Classic 500 MGP winner
Shaffleitner gearbox and a Seeley front brake
Lucas Racing Mag, Amal T3GP2 carb, some history
In 1966 the well known sidecar racer Colin Seeley began manufacturing his own range of racing motorcycles using AJS and Matchless 7R and G50 engines housed in a lightweight frame of his own design. Initially a deal was made with AMC to supply motors but they then announced they were stopping production of the powerplants. This presented the fledgling Seeley operation with a serious problem with regard to the supply of powerplants for the promising machines. Colin's decision to purchase the contents of the AMC racing department and manufacture the engines himself was a bold move at a time when the British motorcycle industry was collapsing around him. With the supply of engines now secured the Seeley concern entered a golden period with their machines becoming the privateer's first choice. Production was soon concentrated on the 500cc G50 powered model, one of which took Dave Croxford to victory in the 1968 British Championship, a feat he repeated the following season. 1968 had also seen John Cooper secure victory in the North West 200 whilst 1969 saw Seeley G50's taking 3rd, 4th and 5th in the Senior TT and John Blanchard repeating John Cooper's success at the North West 200. These successes were followed by Tommy Robb securing fourth place in the 1970 500cc World Championship, an astonishing result for a privateer in the face of competition from the likes of MV Agusta. This represented the high water mark for the G50 powered machines as Japanese two strokes became ever more prevalent and eventually dominated racing throughout the 1970s.
This absolutely stunning Seeley G50 has been part of the Brian Ditchfield collection, a retired engineer and lifelong motorcycle enthusiast who has in the past run a very successful Sidecar Grand Prix team, finishing second in the World Championship in 2002. Brian bought the bike about 10 years ago from a private collection in Germany. From information provided to him at the time it was bought directly from Seeley by a Mr Lishman and sent to him in kit form to Ireland, most competition bikes were sold as kits to avoid purchase tax at the time. Once assembled it was raced by Abe Alexander on the Irish roads until being sold to a rider from the RAFMCC, possibly John Goodall who was the only member of the club who seemed to have raced a G50 at the time. It then appears to have been owned by Vin Duckett in 1979 until it was passed into the hands of Mick Taberer who kept it for the next 31 years. In that time it is thought to have been ridden to victory in the 1987 Classic 500 Manx Grand Prix by Dave Pither before being restored back to 1960s specification by Pete Swallow of White Rose Racing. The frame is a genuine Seeley numbered Mk2/ 7 with a Seeley front brake and Manx rear, wheels are 18" with Manx type front forks. The engine with its distinctive gold timing cover has a 1 1/ 2" Amal T3GP2 carb, Lucas 2MTT mag, Manx clutch and a Shaffleitner 5 speed gearbox. Only used sparingly on classic parades in recent years, it is a perfect example of the last days of the great British single cylinder race bike that once dominated road racing. Not run for a while, it will need the normal checks before use.
